Liberty Ship Complete

EJ,

I usually just use CA. Most of the time I use the gel type but I also use both the medium set type like Gorilla Glue and the standard thin stuff - whichever the job seems to call for.

I have on my workbench both the Gator's Grip regular and thin blend of glues which I will use occasionally but I'm so used to CA that I rarely reach for either of those.

Mike

Mike, if you can get that run of short railing around the aft gun platform to stick, you are a better man than I, no matter what glue you use.

Fred

I have a question for those of you familiar with the Maritime/Naval rules and regulations during WWII. Would the glass windows on truck, jeeps, and vehicles in general have been covered if they were stowed on the weather deck - (on dunnage atop the hatch covers)?

I'm about to add some vehicles to my Liberty Ship deck and have the windows painted silver (closest I could come up with for glass) but I'm now thinking the windows were probably covered to prevent reflections from the sun on the glass from being detected by the enemy. My jeeps and trucks are painted brown (the closest brown to what I've seen on the Internet of U.S. Army vehicles from that time) and I wonder if I should represent the window glass as a dark color (dark gray perhaps) indicating a temporary covering of some sort.

I'd appreciate your input.

Mike

I looked at a bunch of pictures. Here's my observation.

First, most pictures were taken during time at the docks, in fact almost all. Unloading, if on a boom, you assume whatever protection was on there is removed.

For trucks with steel cabs roofs, the glass sometimes looks to be covered individually with panels held on by straps.

That would seem to make sense, if Dodge makes 250,000 half ton trucks, some with cabs, not hard to make shipping covers too.

Trucks with open cabs, some have a wood box over the windscreen.

GM,

I'd just seen that same picture you've posted above when I decided to ask my question. I am leaning toward just "graying out" the windows in my jeeps and trucks. At 1/350 scale there's no way I could make a representation of what I see in that picture - I just don't have steady enough hands and fingers for that. I'll use the Pigma Micron pens I bought on someone's (your?) suggestion a while ago to darken the "glass".

Thanks GM for your quick response!

Mike

I've changed the title of the thread to reflect the most recent content.

I have a few updates. I'm no longer going to apologize for my work. I do see lots of little things in the close up pictures that I can take care of (painting touch-ups, etc.) so I'll try to get to those before the model is finished.

Onyxman was kind enough to sell me (at a very reasonable price! - Thanks Fred!) some 1/350 scale P-38's in the configuration required (no wings) to represent the loading of these planes aboard the ship as in this picture:

I tried several materials to represent the covering on the planes without success. Then I tried using several layers of liquid masking which seemed to work the best for me. Here are a couple of pictures - one before the layers of liquid masking was applied (I'd painted the planes in Army brown) and one after I'd applied several (4 or 5?) layers of the stuff and painted it a canvas green:

I then thought I'd build a platform (using Evergreen styrene) over the two hatches that I decided to place the planes. The 1/350 planes that I got from Onyxman included PE for the supports by the wing roots and tails for each plane. I was hard pressed to get those positioned correctly and damaged them somewhat in the placement on the platform but I'm personally satisfied with them as they are. The plane needs some touch-up paint:

I couldn't get the GMM PE version of the life raft support for the rear of the ship to work and I bent it beyond saving in my frustration to try to get it in position. So, instead, I am using the kit supplied supports for the rear but have added some "bracing" to try to make it look more like the "older" style supports. I left the cross members alone along the long section of the supports since they will be covered by the life rafts and the other side will be difficult to see.

The way she sits at the moment:

This all looks just great. Lockheed was a real innovator in aircraft design. One of the best ones they ever came up with was the Lightning.

As their head designer, Clarence "Kelly" Johnson said.:

"We started with the engines, added the turbochargers behind those, then the radiators and before you knew it, we were at the tail".

Among others, Robin Olds, he of the 27 kills, was a typical washout in fighter school because of disciplinary problems at West Point. Was sent to multi-engine. The rest is history.

Scat II:

Looking good Mike! I'm glad to see those P-38s get some use. I bought them from Tom's when they were available because my father's ship carried P-38s, but after much research and the realization that the 1/350 planes do not fit in the hatches in any way, (Dad says they were all below deck) I decided that my hatches will just be closed up. THEN, I get a message from Cec, who saw the thread on the Liberty Frank O. Peterson. Her father was on the Navy Armed Guard crew on the same trip to Biak as my father. She sent me some priceless documents she obtained from the Navy. These raised another question as there was the sailing report from the West Coast that said "Army planes on deck". Yesterday I talked to Dad and he is adamant that there were no planes on deck. Looking at your model, those planes are pretty hard to miss. So I am going to assume the paper record is in error and go with Dad's memory. It's possible that deck cargo was planned, but then cancelled, and the log was never altered. By the way, since the war ended shortly after they got back to San Pedro, it's likely those P-38s rotted in the jungle until thye were scrapped, even if they were uncrated and put together.

Fred 

Mike, one suggestion. If you still have more vehicles, you could also fill up the deck spaces alongside the hatches. They'd also be on wooden dunnage.

Fred 

GM,

Thanks.

What, in your opinion, is the best (most accurate, easiest to build) 1/48 scale P-38? I need to add one to my stash but have shied away simply because of all the "difficulties" with the available 1/48 kits in the reviews that I've read.

Edit: I just looked in my stash and found I'd bought the Eduard P-38 Pacific Lightnings. I hope it's a decent kit. Boy are my old brain cells depleting raplidly!

Fred,

I have plenty more vehicles and may add a few later. Before I add anything else to the deck I want to rig the mast stays and, so that my hands and fingers don't have to go through dexterous machinations, rig some winch cables for the booms.

Just out of curiousity, why the dunnage under vehicles on deck? To make it easier to load and unload?

Mike

The dunnage would be just to help secure the loads. On the hatch covers it is necessary to distribute the weight on the wooden hatch boards. Unless your deck cargo is tanks or something really heavy, that isn't as much a  factor on the steel decks. A Sherman on deck would still need shoring underneath the deck, I would think. It's also a rule of thumb that you never want metal to metal contact. For vehicles they'd probably be on their tires. But you want the tires chocked with dunnage.

Fred

Thanks Fred.

I'm now in the laborious process of rigging the mast shrouds (very tiny holes in the PE shroud anchors and turnbuckles) so I'm glad I'm using the thin EZ Line. Just getting the EZ Line into the holes sometimes takes me 5 minutes of trying. Twelve shrouds, 24 holes..... more time than I'd anticipated .

After that I'll turn my attention to the booms. I'm anticipating a minor problem when I get to the booms. Because of all the cargo on the hatch covers/(decks?) I want to show the booms stowed vertically since they would be blocked from resting on the boom cradles in their standard "stowed" position. I'm not sure if the kit supplied booms with their "hooks" will allow me to position them upright. If not, I guess I'll just cut off what's necessary to make them sit vertically.

Mike

I like EZ Line Mike, but be careful. The CA I usually use melts it- pop goes that beautiful boom fall. Its big plus though is that unlike monofilament, it holds its knots well.

Mike- the one I posted is Academy, 1/72. I'd vote for Academy.

Those hooks aren't accurate anyway, so cut away.

Mike,

I just wanted to tell you what a great job you are doing on your Liberty Ship. I am looking forward to your next post.

Steve

Thanks Steve.

I've been outdoors photographing birds at Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge about 10 miles south of where I live in Salem, OR for the last few days. The skies have been totally clear for 4 days and should be the same tomorrow so I want to take advantage of my other hobby while I can. Normally at this time of the year up here in the northwest the skies are gloomy at best and it rains a lot until May or June so I'll have plenty more time for working on the Liberty Ship starting Monday - forecast calling for rain and showers for at least a week after tomorrow.

As an aside, my friend George - for whom I'm building the model - is also an avid birder. I see him almost every time I'm at Ankeny. Today we were talking and he told me he was very surprised I'm building such a detailed model. He just wanted a basic model with which to remember his dad. I laughed because I was worried that I might not be accurate enough in my build to please him . Now I can relax a little.

I'm adding some oil vents to the bulwarks which I should have done before I added the deck furniture!! I am contemplating how much more PE I'm actually going to use. I may just skip a bunch.

Mike

As To Tugs;

     You do know of course , that like " G " says , Tugs are weird little beasts . Many crew wanted straight lines so bad they became heavy imbibers when it didn't happen ! LOL.LOL.           T.B.

T.B.,

I LIKE the curved lines! LOL

There was a large tugboat just opposite the "Arrow" (My dad's boat) that was only feet away from me as I sat on the bow sprit of the Arrow. I always liked the looks of harbor tugs. The picture of me on the bow sprit was taken in 1956 (age 13), the one of me on the top deck in 1955 and the one of my dad taking her out on a test run was probably in that general time frame.

I'm calling the S.S. Stephen Hopkins done with a few minor touch-ups to go. I still have to put her on the water base along with the tug and that should happen in the next 10 days or so. More pictures when she's complete.

Looks great Mike! Please post finished pics.

Fred

Thanks Fred.

I have both ships (Liberty Ship and tug) on the base and just need to wait until the gel dries before I paint the water. Should have finished pictures in a day or two.

Mike

As promised - all done.

I suppose I could have taken longer and tried to add more cargo and fix a couple of mistakes but I got to the point where I was breaking more stuff than fixing. I am calling her complete. It's not a work of art but I think my friend will appreciate it.

I'm including the final pictures - not taken very creatively (I used my spray booth) but you should be able to see what I tried to do.

Mike

Beautifully done Mike! That is one nice model.

Steve

Thanks Steve and GM.

Now it's on to my HobbyBoss 1/48 F4U-4 Early. I found decals for WWII carrier based F4U-4's that I want to use on it. I had a hard time finding pictures of these -4's in WWII but I have a couple now and one of them matches up with one of the carrier group decals I bought so I'm happy. I think the color is just glossy sea blue but I'll have to do a little looking into that. 

Mike

This was a great thread Mike. You put up a good challenge, a lot of folks responded and you answered them all.

I certainly learned a lot here. Fred made a connection, and you produced a super model.

A nice tribute to the Stephen Hopkins.

Great build, love the setting with the tug.

Great build! Your water looks realistic. Now I have to get to work on the Frank O. Peterson.